The Caporali theatre raises within the Panicale historical centre and deserves a visit both for the elegance of its richly decorated internal structure and for the theatre performances here set up.

Indeed the theatre hosts the prose season (TSU circuit), the concerts of Panicale Music Together, the Baroque Opera, the dance essays, beyond several conferences.

The theatre’s history is rooted in the “Dramatic Society” founded in 1694 by a group of young Panicale inhabitants.

In 1786 the “Dramatic Society” converged in a new company called “Drama School”. The Drama School commissioned F. Tarducci to build a small wooden theatre that, because of its position, was called Sun Theatre.

In 1856, due to a progressive deterioration it underwent, the theatre was extended and modified and acquired a new shape. The restoration project was assigned to the architect Giovanni Caproni who modified the structure broadening the stage, increasing the number of antlers and building over them a big gallery with a cast-iron railing.

The decorative project was assigned to Alceste Ricci from Perugia and consisted in painting the wooden structure with a bright varnish enriched by gold stucco and festoons. The painter Mariano Piervittori painted instead the main cloth portraying the Captain of Fortune Boldrino Paneri from Panicale while he receives the keys of Perugia. The hall became so elegant and harmonious and was open to the public in the Carnival of 1858 with the new name of Cesare Caporali Theatre.